


call now for a free gift!

by hi_raeth



Series: Infomercials [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Reylo Week 2018, Reyloveweek, SO MUCH FLUFF, and once again, i hope y'all went to the dentist after part one because IT'S TIME FOR MORE CAVITIES, the annual Organa-Skywalker-Solo Christmas celebration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-07 08:59:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15215663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_raeth/pseuds/hi_raeth
Summary: Six years after Rey's first Christmas with Ben and his family, unexpected gifts abound at the annual Organa-Solo-Skywalker(-Kenobi?) Christmas celebration.Featuring: Organa-Solo-Skywalker shenanigans, a ton of major surprises, and fluff. Again with the fluff. It's always the damn fluff.





	1. Christmas Eve

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 7 of Reylove Week - Holiday.

A heavy arm slung across her middle. Warm breath tickling the shell of her ear. The barely discernible rise and fall of a chest pressed against her back.

The day begins much like any other, and it takes Rey a while to remember that this is the last Christmas Eve she and Ben will ever spend in this apartment of theirs, where they met and fell in love and built a life together.

“Hey,” Ben mumbles when she turns slightly to look at him, and his fingers instinctively curl around her waist to keep her near. “What time is it?”

Rey reaches blindly for her phone on the nightstand, unwilling to tear her eyes away from the sight of Ben trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. He’d come to bed late last night, something about catching up on work emails and making sure they’ve got everything they need for the trip. By the time Rey felt him crawl into bed, it must’ve been at least two in the morning.

It’s seven now, a whole hour before their alarm is set to go off. She tells Ben as much and whispers for him to go back to sleep, sighs happily when he pulls her closer to his chest and nuzzles into the curve of her neck before he lets sleep reclaim him.

She doesn’t take her own advice, chooses instead to catalog every little detail about their room. It’s not the room they started out in – they’d taken over the master bedroom a few years ago when Finn and Poe moved out – but over the years it’s turned into Rey’s favorite place in the world. Nothing bad ever happens in this room; she doesn’t allow it to, even has a rule about them resolving a fight before they can set foot into this space. It’s the safest place in the world to her, and soon she’ll be leaving it – and their home and her job and this city – behind for the great unknown.

Ben stirs behind her, tightens his grip on her and makes a tiny sound of contentment in the back of his throat before he settles back into sleep. He’s warm and comforting and _home_ , and Rey knows that’ll never change no matter where they live, no matter what life-changing surprise life has in store for them.

 

* * *

 

Ben seems a little jumpy over breakfast, but he waves off her concern and blames it on a combination of sleep-deprivation and dreading whatever awaits them in Alderaan. It’s Leia’s first Christmas since stepping down as Senator, and there’s a distinct possibility she might’ve gone overboard with the planning now that she has the time to oversee every last detail.

They spend most of the three-hour drive coming up with increasingly outlandish predictions for what they’ll find at the Organa mansion, and by the time Rey suggests the possibility of Leia having mounted a sleigh along with a dozen reindeer on the roof, Ben seems back to his normal self.

He’s smiling even as he keeps his eyes on the road, the corners of his eyes crinkling in that way she’s grown so fond of. His shoulders shake with restrained laughter, and when they roll to a stop at a red light he shakes his head at Rey’s ridiculousness and takes her hand over the gearbox to press a kiss to the inside of her wrist.

_Now would be a good time._

Instead Rey beams back at him, surges forward to give him a peck on the cheek before she points out the now-green light. “Floor it, Solo,” she jokingly commands, and Ben uses his free hand to salute her with a chuckled _aye aye, ma’am_.

The car is filled with laughter and silliness and painfully off-key Christmas carols for the entirety of their drive through Takodana, but Rey observes a change in Ben as soon as they drive into Alderaan. He starts tapping his fingers against the steering wheel, and she catches him surreptitiously patting down his left pocket at least three times, as if checking for his keys or phone. When they take an unfamiliar route, she assumes he must be too busy thinking about whatever it is that’s troubling him to realize that he’s made a mistake.

“Babe, you missed the turn.”

Ben jumps. The Silencer is pretty spacious, but his sudden movement still brings his head dangerously close to the roof of the car. “Um, actually, I didn’t,” he tells her without meeting her eye, his hand wrapped around the wheel in a white-knuckled grip. “We’re making a quick detour.”

He guides them onto a road that cuts through the forest, one that Rey knows leads to the snow-capped mountains behind the Organa mansion. In an effort to ease the tension, she narrows her eyes at Ben and asks, “Benjamin Organa-Solo, is this the part where you take me deep into the forest and hide my body?”

She relaxes when Ben laughs and turns to her with a fond smile. “Sure, the past eight years have all been a part of my elaborate plan to kill you.”

“I know it’s a joke,” Rey tells him, “but you are _exactly_ the kind of person who would come up with an _eight_ -year plan to commit the perfect murder.”

Ben frowns without looking at her, paying close attention to the road as snowy gravel gives way to frozen-over dirt. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“That you’re meticulous and detail-orientated and the slightest bit anal-retentive, and I love you for it,” she shrugs.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Ben mutters wryly as they slowly come to a stop just a few feet away from a thicket of trees, where the dirt road ends and the snowy forest begins. “All right, we’re here.”

 _Here_ is the middle of nowhere, and Rey is tempted to make the murder joke again. But then Ben’s carefully getting out of the car and making his way over to her side, and when he opens her door it’s like a veil of calm has descended upon him. He offers her his hand and a bright, assuring smile, and so she lets him lead her into the forest.

Ben keeps his left hand in his pocket as they walk, and uses his shoulder to push aside some low-hanging branches before he gently tugs Rey into a familiar clearing.

It’s the lake behind the house, the one they sometimes walk to when they’re in need of a break from his family. The ice is never thick enough to walk on, but the thin layer of frost combined with the Alderaanian winter sun always makes for the most dazzling sight, a thousand pinpricks of light cutting through the thin layer of ice to bounce off the water underneath.

“It’s the lake,” Rey hears herself saying somewhat unnecessarily, and Ben just gives her a warm smile before he pulls her along to the edge of the lake. It’s beautiful and calming, and any other time Rey would’ve assumed they’re just here for a moment of peace before they get pulled into the madness that is the Organa-Skywalker-Solo holiday celebration.

But Ben’s left hand is still in his pocket, and he’s looking at her like she’s the true miracle here amidst this breathtaking show of Mother Nature’s beauty.

“Ben,” Rey whispers, her heart in her throat as the pieces fall into place. “Why are we here?”

“A month from now, you and I are going to leave behind everything we know to start a new life in Naboo,” he reminds her. “And I know that as excited as you are about this, you’re also terrified and sad to leave the only place that’s ever felt like home to you.”

Guilt begins to pool in her stomach, but Ben is so gentle and understanding and _Ben_ about it that she doesn’t even bother denying it, just takes a deep breath and nods.

“ _I’m_ a little scared and sad too, Rey,” Ben admits, his fingers giving hers a reassuring squeeze. “Coruscant is… every single chapter of our story, so far, and it’s not going to be easy to leave that behind. But I thought maybe if we give this chapter of our lives a proper last page, the kind it deserves, then… maybe it’ll be easier to move forward and look to the future. Because at the end of the day, that’s what this is all about. It’s not an ending, it’s a new beginning for us, for our future together.”

Ben takes one step back, finally pulls his hand out of his pocket along with a tiny velvet drawstring pouch. He smiles when Rey drops his hand to bring both of hers to cover her mouth, and everything takes on a dreamlike-haze as she watches him get down on one knee.

They’ve discussed this before – of course they have, after six years together. But they’ve always been so casual about it that Rey sort of thought it would happen over breakfast one morning, or while they’re on the couch watching TV. He’d burn the French toast because he was distracted by her or she’d turn around to smile at him during a commercial break, and they’d share a moment of quiet understanding before one of them gathered the courage to say those two little words, short and sweet and to the point.

She’s dreamed of it, waited for the moment to come, fallen in love with the quiet elegance of the idea. But this, this is beautiful and perfect and _them_ too.

On one knee – in jeans, in the snow -, Ben presents her with a ring she recognizes from pictures of his grandparents and smiles at her, that calm, assured smile from earlier, the one that says _this is perfectly natural_ and _there’s nothing to be nervous about_ and _this is exactly where we’re meant to be._

“I know we’re starting our new lives in just a month, but I’ve waited eight years for us to build a future together, Rey, and you _know_ I’m not the most patient of men,” they laugh and she cries and Ben’s smile grows the slightest bit wobbly. “So I’d like to start the rest of our life together today, if that’s okay with you. I’d like to promise you a lifetime of lazy mornings no matter where we are, an eternity together no matter where life takes us.”

Later, Ben will tell her that his leg started cramping up before he could pop the question. After, Rey will admit that the reason for her extra-loud sniff was to prevent her nose from running. But for now, everything about this moment is perfect. Even the persistent voice that’s been screaming _tell him tell him tell him_ in the back of her head for the past three days falls silent as Ben finally asks:

“Rey, will you marry me?”

 

* * *

 

“You’re forty minutes late,” Leia tells them in lieu of a greeting when she opens the door to find Rey and Ben on her front porch. They’re hand-in-hand and smiling like fools and _glowing_ , and she just sighs and shakes her head at them, begins to say, “Don’t tell me you’re late because you two were fooling around in the car–”

“Hi, Leia,” Rey says with a tiny wave of her left hand, and the older woman gasps as her hand shoots out to grab Rey’s.

Leia’s whole face lights up as she spots the ring on Rey’s finger, and she turns to Ben with the biggest smile on her face. “You didn’t.”

Ben grins. “I did.”

“Han!” she hollers into the house without looking away from the young couple. “Han, get your ass here right now!”

In the minute it takes for Han to stomp to the front door, Leia pulls them each into a hug, then a group hug, and Rey swears her eyes have grown shiny with tears but she’ll never accuse the great Senator Organa of getting weepy just because her son’s engaged.

 _Engaged._ She and Ben are engaged.

Han appears at the door with his customary scowl, which quickly turns into a proud smirk once he realizes what’s going on.

“So you finally did it, huh?” he asks Ben, reaching out to clap his son on the shoulder. “Good for you, kid. And welcome to the family, Rey. Though god knows you’ll probably live to regret it.”

Leia turns to her husband with narrowed eyes. “You’re not surprised. Why aren’t you surprised?”

“The kid had to get advice somewhere, didn’t he?” Han shrugs, crossing his arms as he leans against the doorway.

“Advice?” Leia echoes incredulously. “You’ve never even proposed to anyone! _I_ did,” she tells Ben and Rey almost defensively. “I woke up to find him building a crib one morning, and I told him _this might be the pregnancy hormones talking, but I think we should get married._ ”

“And so we did,” Han says with a rare smile as he reaches out to wrap an arm around Leia’s waist and pull her close. “But for the record, I was going to – so it _counts_. Had a ring and a plan and everything,” he mutters.

Leia snaps her head around, as if this is news to her. Knowing Han, it very well could be. “A plan? Really? Well, let’s hear it then.”

Ben shakes his head at his parents as they get swept away in their own little world of bickering. “Think that’ll be us in thirty years?” he whispers to Rey as Han steers Leia into the house with a hand on her lower back even as they continue to argue.

He sounds half-amused and half-terrified of the prospect, but Rey… Rey hears _us in thirty years_ and falls in love with the thought of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming back to this 'verse makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. I hope reading this makes you guys feel the same way!
> 
> See you tomorrow, when Leia stumbles upon a huge surprise and then presents Rey and Ben with a surprise of her own. In the meantime, thank you for reading and as always, please feel free to drop a line below!


	2. Christmas

“Where are you going?” Ben mumbles as Rey gets out of bed, barely awake enough to look up at her as she cards a hand through his hair.

“Christmas breakfast with your mother,” she reminds him, leaning in for a quick kiss before she drags herself out of bed and over to her bag in search of a sweater. “Don’t worry, you can keep sleeping.” It’s a longstanding tradition between the two women at this point, to enjoy a quiet Christmas morning while everyone else sleeps in. Sometimes Rey wonders just how her teenaged self would have reacted to the news that she would one day share a Christmas tradition with _the_ Leia Organa, and it never fails to put a smile on her face.

Ben turns on his side to track her movements, and his lips are pursed in a distinctly pout-like manner – not that he’ll ever admit to it. “It’s our first morning as an engaged couple, and you’re leaving me in bed to go have breakfast with my mother?”

“Maybe you should’ve timed your proposal better,” Rey teases, voice muffled as she pulls a sweater over her thin camisole. “Besides,” she sits next to Ben, gives him a placating smile as her hand curves around his cheek, “we had a rather eventful first night as an engaged couple. That should tide you over for now.”

And with one final kiss – shorter than Ben would like, judging by the way he tries to reach for her and whines when she steps away –, Rey disappears into the bathroom down the hall to freshen up before breakfast with her future mother-in-law.

She walks into the kitchen to find Leia already comfortably settled at the breakfast table as always, two mugs of Irish coffee keeping her company as she waits for Rey.

“Merry Christmas,” Rey says as she reaches for the coffee out of habit. At the last minute she abruptly changes course and picks up some toast instead, but she knows there’s no way Leia didn’t catch that.

The other woman’s eyes twinkle. “Merry Christmas indeed,” she murmurs over the lip of her mug, and Rey busies herself with spreading butter and jam over two slices of toast while she gathers up the nerve to ask Leia a question that’s been on her mind since yesterday.

“Leia?” she finally calls, setting down her toast.

“Hmm?”

Rey smiles at the knowing look Leia gives her. “What made you propose to Han?”

“Oh,” Leia blinks, the slightest bit taken aback. “Well, there’s the short version: I saw him building a crib and my hormones got the best of me. And then there’s the truth: up until that exact moment, I wasn’t sure about _anything_. I never told anyone but _god_ , I was so scared. I’d known Han for three years by then, but we’d spent the entirety of that time being outlaws, being rebels, always doing reckless and exciting stuff. It’s easy to form a connection, when you’re living a life like that, but I always knew in the back of my mind that it was a whirlwind of a thing, that it might not work in a real world setting.” There’s no hiding the sadness in her eyes at the prospect, even all these years later.

“And then things finally calmed down, and before we could even really get to know each other, suddenly I was pregnant. Han stuck around, I always knew he would, but I had no way of knowing if this was something he wanted or if he was just doing the right thing. _My noble scoundrel_ , I’d call him in my head sometimes,” Leia shakes her head with a fond smile. “I knew he’d stay, knew he’d try his best, but… to see him there in the garage, first thing in the morning, building a crib for this baby he couldn’t have seen coming, this baby that had ostensibly ruined his whole lone wolf bachelor life… I knew then that we’d be okay. I didn’t know how we were going to make things work, exactly, but I knew that he loved the baby already and that was enough for me.”

“That’s all you need, really,” Leia tells her, that knowing look back in her eyes. “Just love them, and you can figure it out from there.” And then, before Rey can even think to act dumb, she asks, “So, how far along?”

Rey sighs, gives in with a tiny smile. “Five weeks.”

Leia hums, a small little thing in the back of her throat indicating consideration. Rey takes a bite of her toast as she watches the other woman get up and retrieve a bottle of orange juice from the fridge.

“I’ll take this,” Leia says as she trades Rey’s untouched Irish coffee for the orange juice and an empty glass. “So, does Ben know yet? Don’t worry - he asked for the ring ages ago, so I know it’s not a shotgun wedding.”

“No,” Rey whispers as she fiddles with said ring, wonders how something can feel so foreign yet so _right._ She’ll get used to it, she supposes; has all the time in the world to do so. “I haven’t told him. I just don’t know if we’re ready for this,” she admits quietly, letting all of her fear and doubt seep into her voice. This is Leia, after all – if there’s anyone who can help Rey through this (aside from Ben, who isn’t exactly an option right now), it’s her. “I mean, we’ve talked about it, of course, but it’s always been one of those _someday_ things, you know? And now he’s just finished his PhD, and we’re both starting new jobs soon, and there’s still the move–”

“Rey,” Leia reaches across the table to still her shaking hand. It works almost as well as when Ben does the same thing to calm her down and keep her from spiraling. “There’s only one thing you need to consider right now. Do you want this?”

“I…” She lets her free hand drift down to her stomach, thinks of how every single vision of hers for their future had immediately started to change the second she’d found out, an automatic and instant instinct to accommodate this tiny new life. It’s only been four days, but Rey can’t imagine going back to any of those plans from before. So she tells Leia, confident and scared at the same time, “Yes. I do.”

Leia gives her a brilliant smile, squeezes her hand in reassurance. “Then you’ll be just fine, as long as you and Ben are there for each other.”

A sense of calm settles over her. Leia always makes things so simple, strips all of her worries and insecurities away until the bare truth remains: as long as they have each other, she and Ben will be fine. She can already picture it: the two of them as a team, taking on unexpected pregnancy challenges and the uncharted territory that is parenthood. She’ll worry about not being a good mom since she didn’t have one, and he’ll actively fear repeating his parents’ mistakes, but together they’ll guide each other and figure it out and–

The sense of comfort and peace lasts for all of five seconds before Rey remembers– “Oh god, I still haven’t told him.”

Leia pats her hand, gives Rey a gentle smile before she picks up her coffee. “You should probably do that.”

 

* * *

 

Christmas lunch is a quiet affair this year, just the five of them since all of the usual suspects are otherwise occupied.

“So,” Han says after a few minutes of comfortable silence, a novelty at this table, “what’s this new job about, kid?”

By the time Rey looks up, he’s already focused on his food, and so there’s no telling which of them the question had been addressed to. She and Ben share a look before he asks, “Which one?”

Han stares at them, a forkful of roast hovering just beyond his mouth. He looks almost confused for a moment, as if he himself hadn’t thought that through. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s blurted out the first thing to come to mind just because Leia gave him a gentle nudge to say something. “Both of them, I guess.”

“I’ve got a job teaching poli-sci and maybe another related class or two,” Ben shrugs between bites. “That’s about it, really. But Rey’s new job–”

“Hey,” Rey turns to him, “don’t downplay it. You’ve been offered tenure at the University of Theed pretty much right out of the gate, with only a few years of teaching experience in Coruscant. That’s _amazing_ ,” she tells the rest of the table.

“It _is_ very impressive, Ben,” Luke chimes in supportively. “To be tenured in this day and age, especially with less than five years of experience – you’ve done well, Dr. Solo.”

“We’re very proud of you,” Leia tells her son, and to everyone’s surprise–

“Yeah, what she said, kid,” Han adds, with no trace of sarcasm and no sign of Leia having given him a slight kick under the table to say so.

He’s even _smiling_ , and Rey’s heart warms to see Ben slowly smiling back at his father. “Thanks,” he tells the table, but looks directly at Han.

“Yeah, yeah,” his father says after a while, not quite able to hide his smile behind his usual gruff demeanor. “What about you, kid?” he asks Rey.

“It’s, um, it’s pretty exciting, actually,” Rey says hesitantly, weighs how much detail she can get into without boring everyone else. Luke, she knows, is always happy to talk shop – though a physicist by profession, he’s proven more than capable of keeping up with her aeronautical engineering tangents –, but she decides to just give everyone the highlights. “The government of Naboo and the University of Theed are setting up a new lab to look into more fuel-efficient crafts, and they somehow found out about me and decided to bring me in. It’s going to be a lot of actual engineering and research, which will be fun after two years of mostly technical trouble-shooting and paperwork.”

Luke looks just as proud of her as he was of Ben, and Leia and Han beam at her even if they don’t quite get the magnitude of what this offer means for her career. But Ben – “They didn’t just _somehow find out about you_ ,” he shakes his head at Rey with a patient smile, turns to his family with bright eyes. “Rey wrote this _amazing_ thesis for her master’s about alternative fuel options she experimented with back in Jakku. It’s become sort of infamous in the right circles, and Theed has been keeping track of her ever since. She was one of the first people they contacted about the new lab, and they’re making her part of an elite team of eight engineers heading up the whole thing.”

She almost wants to contradict Ben and tell everyone it’s not as impressive as he makes it out to be, but then he turns to smile at her, all proud and supportive, and _god,_ Rey loves this man. So she decides to just smile back at him and duck her head for a bit until her cheeks don’t feel _that_ warm anymore.

 “Sounds about right,” Han shrugs after a moment. “Always knew you two were pretty damn impressive.”

Luke seconds that, and Leia proposes a toast to the two of them and new beginnings. If Han or Luke notice that Rey doesn’t actually drink from her glass – the way she didn’t drink from any of her glasses at the party last night, simply handing them over to Ben whenever he needed a refill –, they’re tactful enough not to hint at anything that hasn’t been announced.

Rey eyes Ben as he sets down his half-empty glass and instantly gets roped into a conversation with Han about recent upgrades on the Falcon. After a while his hand reaches out for hers, but he doesn’t look her way, doesn’t catch her switching their glasses.

Still. Rey knows she can only keep this from him for so long.

 

* * *

 

After lunch she and Ben help Luke with the dishes while Han and Leia take a walk, and it takes them a little longer than usual to get everything washed and dried because they’re too caught up in reminiscing about life in Coruscant U.

“So when are you moving?” Luke asks almost reluctantly, having expressed for the tenth time how weird it’ll be not to run into either of them around campus anymore.

“End of January, most likely,” Ben says as he returns dried dishes to their rightful places. “They’re bringing me in after midterms as a mid-semester replacement, and Rey’s job doesn’t start till March. Figure that’ll give us enough time to get properly unpacked and moved in before work starts.”

Luke nods along to his nephew’s explanation. “Have you found a place yet?”

Rey sighs. “Not yet. Everything is either too far, too expensive, or too small. And we don’t want to sign a lease on a place we’re not happy with.”

“Housing in Theed is a fucking nightmare,” Ben grumbles to his uncle. “I know it’s been a while and it’s a major city, but I don’t remember it being anywhere near this awful back when we used to go there for the summer.”

“Well, things change,” Luke shrugs, and Rey thinks she catches the slightest hint of a grin before he turns back to the dishes with a forced and telling casualness. “But I wouldn’t be too worried if I were you two. I think Leia has an idea.”

Ben squints at his uncle’s back, and turns to Rey with a suspicious look. She simply nods in agreement and goes back to drying the dishes.

It isn’t until much later, towards the end of the night, that they find out just what Luke had been hinting at.

“So,” Leia announces once they’re all food-sleepy and eggnog-drowsy, “Luke and I have a surprise for you two.”

Luke’s entire face lights up as he claps his hands together gleefully. “Finally! I’ve been waiting all day for this.”

“Don’t ruin it,” his sister shoots him an admonishing look before she gets up and walks over to the Christmas tree in the corner, all twinkling lights and tasteful ornaments and not a single present under the tree, as per Organa-Skywalker-Solo tradition.

Rey and Ben watch Leia retrieve one single gift from the tree, nestled amongst its lower branches rather than placed under it. It’s a small box, all glossy red paper and classy silver ribbon, and upon spotting it last night Rey had mistaken it for a slightly-oversized ornament.

Now Leia holds the gift out to them, and Ben slowly reaches out to take it. “I thought this was a gift-free household,” he reminds his mother.

“Open it,” Leia simply tells him, returning to her seat between Han and Luke, both of whom appear to be leaning forward in anticipation.

Ben nudges her with his shoulder and holds the box out on one palm, and Rey carefully slips off the ribbon before she lifts the lid off the box and fishes out a set of keys.

It takes her a while to recognize them – Ben always uses his own set when they visit – but as soon as her eyes land upon the familiar address carved into the small wooden keychain, recognition dawns upon her. Ben too, if his tiny gasp is any indication.

“Mom, this is…”

Rey looks up at the twins. “You’re giving us…?”

Leia nods, a huge smile on her face. “Varykino, yes. I know it’s all the way out in Lake Country but honestly, given the traffic in Theed, this will make for a much more pleasant commute. The road from Lake Country into Theed leads right to the university, since it’s on the edge of the city anyway. And from there Rey should be able to easily take the train or a shuttle to work. So really, it’s not even that much of a drive.”

“You can either sit in Theed traffic for an hour,” Luke adds, looking horrified just by the idea of it, “or you can start your days with a scenic, traffic-free forty-minute drive.”

Rey and Ben turn to look at each other. It’s a wonderful idea, and they love Varykino, but…

“We can’t possibly accept this,” Rey tells the twins.

“It’s too much,” Ben agrees. “This is a whole _house_. This is your mother’s house. You can’t just–”

“Ben,” Leia interrupts him with a patient tone. “It was always going to be yours, anyway. And when you two got together, Luke and I agreed that it would be your wedding present. Now you’re engaged – so close enough, we figure – and you’re in need of a house in Naboo. So here you are.”

“Merry Christmas, happy wedding, and just don’t ever expect another gift from us for the rest of your lives,” Luke says with a grin.

They hesitate for a moment more, until Han decides to pipe up. “Just take it, kids. No one ever offered _me_ a fancy house when I got engaged, but there’s no way I would’ve turned that down.”

So they accept the house, with a million thanks and tight hugs.

A little while later, as they’re all saying their good-nights and heading to bed, Leia suggests, “You two should take off for a while, spend the rest of your week in Varykino.”

“But we just got here–” Rey protests weakly.

Leia smirks at them. “Just go. I was young and newly engaged once too, you know. You need some privacy.”

From upstairs, Han calls down, “And we need some space from your _celebrating_!”

“Please,” Luke decides to chime in from the top of the stairs. “ _Please_ spare us from your celebrating.”

“Bunch of prudes,” Leia rolls her eyes at the men. “Just… stay for lunch, okay?” she tells Ben and Rey. “And after that you can go have a pre-honeymoon honeymoon or whatever it is you want to call it.”

Ben reaches out to pull his mom into a hug. “Thanks, Mom. For this, and the house, and just… everything.”

Leia leans into her son with a smile. “You’re welcome. Now, off to bed. You two have a long drive ahead of you tomorrow.”

They trade their good-nights, thank Leia one last time, and head upstairs. In bed, while Ben traces squiggly lines up and down her arm, he muses out loud, “We could have the wedding in Varykino.”

Rey, half-asleep already, lifts her head from its perch on Ben’s chest. “Hmm?”

“The wedding. _Our_ wedding,” Ben smiles. “We could have it in Varykino, if you’d like. I know you don’t want anything big and flashy, but this should give us enough room to invite all of our closest friends and even house some of them overnight if we have to, and it’s got a great view, you love the lake–”

“Okay,” Rey yawns, presses a kiss to the hollow of his neck before she allows her eyes to close. “That sounds perfect. Let’s get married in Varykino.”

Distantly she hears Ben chuckle, feels his chest rise and fall as he stops caressing her arm and drops his hand to curl around her waist. “We’ll talk about it again when you’re not dozing off. Good night, sweetheart.”

“Good night, Ben,” she mumbles, and allows herself to drift off in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the plan was to keep each chapter at about two-thousand words.
> 
> This is a little over three-thousand. Whoops, I did it again. There were bits and pieces in this chapter that I really debated taking out, but at the end of the day I want you guys to know what's going on with their lives, every tiny detail. Because that's the only satisfying goodbye I can give these two, I think - one where we know where they're headed and how their lives will play out. (And yes, this fic is really just one long goodbye to this 'verse. It's like a three-chapter epilogue, basically.)
> 
> Tune in tomorrow for the last chapter! Will Rey finally tell Ben her secret? Will they christen every surface of Varykino?? What if they - GASP - decide to elope right there and then??? (Spoiler alert: they don't.)
> 
> Anyway, see you then. As always, thanks for reading and feel free to comment below!


	3. Boxing Day (and beyond)

On Boxing Day, Rey and Ben find themselves in for a traditional Luke Skywalker Rude Awakening. _No Christmas celebration is complete without one_ , Luke had once quipped when confronted by Ben a few years ago.

“This is a gentle reminder to refrain from any form of celebration until you vacate these family-friendly premises!” Luke’s voice crackles over what sounds suspiciously like a megaphone, most likely found up in the attic amongst boxes containing Leia’s earliest campaign supplies. Rey shoots upright while Ben simply jolts in place, causing his head to bump into the headboard.

“What the _fuck_ ,” Ben hisses as Rey parts his hair to check for any visible injuries. “That’s it, I’m going to murder my uncle. This is it, Rey, this is the year–”

“What he _means_ ,” Han’s long-suffering voice comes from just beyond the door, prompting both of them to yank the covers up to their chests even though the door is securely locked, “is that you two better be dressed and down for brunch in fifteen minutes. No shenanigans, _Ben_.”

“Hey, why did you single _me_ out?” Ben huffs, glaring at the door as if he can see his father standing right there.

Luke cackles – still on the megaphone – when Han calls back, “Because you’re _my_ son, and I know exactly what I was like thirty years ago!”

Ben turns to Rey with a grimace on his face. “Between _that_ and what my mom said about being _young and newly engaged once_ , I think I’ve been sufficiently traumatized for the next three years.”

“You poor baby,” Rey laughs, leaning forward to plant a kiss on his head. “Now come on, you heard your father.” To Han, she says, “We’ll see you downstairs!”

“Fifteen minutes, lovebirds!” Luke reminds them – still on that goddamn megaphone – and they share a chuckle when the megaphone lets out one last dying screech as Han rips it out of Luke’s hands with a snarled, faintly audible _gimme that, you doofus._

“I can’t wait until we get away from this family,” Ben mutters as Rey crawls over him to get out of bed and proceeds to pull him out of their cocoon of blankets as well. “Every year. Every fucking year.”

“You love your family,” Rey reminds him as he finally allows himself to be pulled upright.

Ben scrubs the sleep away from his eyes and slowly stands up. “No, I don’t. I’ve changed my mind. I love you, and only you. Everyone else can go choke on a megaphone.”

Rey shakes her head fondly, pulls him down for a quick kiss. “Is that how you repay your mother and uncle for their very generous gift? They don’t deserve this.”

“ _We_ don’t deserve Luke’s wacky bullshit,” Ben grumbles as Rey crosses the room and throws a tee shirt at him before she layers a flannel shirt over her tank top.

“Come on, grumpy pants,” she grins as Ben continues to rant about Luke’s antics as he pulls on the shirt. His hair is a mess, and Rey reaches up on her toes to pat it down while he ties up the drawstring on his sweatpants. She takes Ben’s hand and pulls him towards the door before he can start in on another rant about Luke. “Let’s go get washed up before your uncle comes at us with that megaphone again.”

“I’ll smash it against a wall and shove the jagged pieces down his throat,” Ben mutters darkly as they leave their room.

“You shouldn’t–” Rey almost slips up, almost says something about how he shouldn’t talk like that around the baby. Luckily, Ben misinterprets her half-sentence and stricken look.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he presses a kiss to her temple. “Too dark, I know.”

 _Today_ , Rey resolves to herself. _I’ll definitely tell him today._

 

* * *

Over brunch, Leia tells them that she’s called ahead and arranged for a caretaker to open up Varykino and restock the kitchen. Luke snickers to himself, mutters something about making sure they’re stocked up on condoms too, and even Han allows a little smirk at that. There are days when Rey forgets that this man used to be her professor; today is, unfortunately, not one of those days.

By two, their bags have been stowed away in the car and the family has gathered by the front door to say their goodbyes for now.

“You’re definitely stopping by on New Year’s Eve, right?” Leia checks, reminding them of the small get-together she’s planning to host for all of their friends who couldn’t make it to Christmas this year.

“I don’t think either of us wants to be stuck in a car for seven hours straight,” Ben turns to Rey and waits until she nods in agreement, “so yeah, we’ll most likely drive back here on the 31st and spend the night before we drive back to Coruscant.”

“See you in a few days, then,” Han says, leaning in to give Ben one of those weird half-embrace, half-pat on the back things; it’s as close as father and son ever get to sharing an actual hug. But he has no qualms about pulling Rey into a bear hug while Ben turns to Leia, even mutters something about how happy he is not to be the only outsider in this family anymore and _I expect you to side with me whenever they get all Skywalker-y, you hear that, kid?_

Leia hugs her next, gives her a secretive smile and spares her stomach the briefest, most discreet of glances. “Are you going to tell him?”

“Today,” Rey assures her quietly while Ben huffs out his uncle’s name in an exasperated manner and the man in question lets out a laugh. “Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you,” she adds while the others are distracted.

“Anything, Rey,” Leia tells her warmly, keeping her hands on Rey’s arms while she takes a step away. “We’re family now. I mean, you know I’ve always seen you as family, but now we actually are. You can ask for anything.”

She takes a deep breath at that, swallows the lump in her throat and wills her tears not to rise to the surface. “You’re family to me too, Leia. And I was just wondering… Ben’s crib, the one Han made. Is it– I mean, I know it’s been more than thirty years, but I was wondering if maybe you still–”

Leia drops her hands down the length of Rey’s arms to give her fingers a gentle squeeze. “It’s up in the attic. I’ll have Han check to make sure it’s okay before he drives it to Varykino next month, how’s that?”

Rey nods with a smile, overwhelmed once more by this woman’s kindness and generosity. A crib is a small thing, especially when compared to a palatial lake house, but it means so much more coming from Leia, especially now that Rey knows how important that crib is to her.

“That’d be perfect,” she tells Leia, steps in for one last hug before Ben reaches her side.

“Ready to go?” Ben asks, slipping an arm around her waist as Han and Luke move closer to hover by Leia’s side.

“Yeah,” Rey smiles up at him. “We’ll see you guys soon,” she tells the others, and after a few more minutes of drawn-out goodbyes – mostly thanks to Luke’s need to share a list of sacred surfaces in Varykino he’d prefer them not to defile –, she and Ben are off to Naboo.

As the house finally grows indistinguishable in the rearview mirror, Rey settles into her seat with a sigh.

“Everything okay?” Ben asks, sparing her a quick glance before he merges into the main road leading out of town. It’s not too packed yet – most people in town for the holidays will probably stay another day or two – and the roads are clear enough that Rey doesn’t protest when Ben takes one hand off the wheel to reach for hers.

She laces their fingers together, waits until he turns to her again before she gives him a smile. “Yeah, just happy to get away for a bit. You know I love your family, but I like it when it’s just us, sometimes.”

 _Especially at a time like this, when I have life-changing news to tell you_ , she leaves unsaid.

Ben brings their joined hands up to his lips, brushes a kiss along her knuckles. “I like it when it’s just us, too.”

It’s stupid, Rey knows, but she can’t help that split-second thought of _what if he means that, what if he only wants it to be the two of us_ –

She shuts the thought down with a firm _no_ , chances a sideways glance at Ben when he isn’t looking and tries to picture his reaction to the news, tries to figure out how exactly she’s going to tell him. At a red light, Ben turns to her and tells her, for no reason other than he wants to, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Rey smiles, and his answering grin – all soft and dopey – strikes her like a revelation. _He’s going to be so happy_ , she realizes, picturing that very expression on his face when she tells him.

Anticipation settles deep into her bones, and puts a tiny smile on her lips for the remainder of the trip.

 

* * *

 

They reach Varykino shortly after six-thirty, just in time to watch the sun begin its slow descent over the horizon. Winters in Lake Country are mild, the days slightly longer than they are in Alderaan, the chill in the air nowhere near as sharp as in Coruscant. It’ll be a pleasant break from constantly pulling her coat tighter around her and sticking her hands in Ben’s pockets to stay warm.

Varykino comes into view slowly, awash in a soft, golden glow from the lights the caretakers must’ve left on a timer for them. Rey thinks it might be one of the most welcoming sights in the world, and instantly knows she’ll be happy to call this place home.

“Home sweet home,” Ben says as they pull up to the house, unknowingly echoing her thoughts. Rey tears her eyes away from the window to smile at him.

“I still can’t believe they _gave_ us this place,” she murmurs in wonder as Ben kills the engine. “I mean, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Leia had insisted that we stay here while we’re in Naboo, but to actually…”

Ben shrugs. “She didn’t want us to think of it as a temporary arrangement, like a house on loan or something,” he explains. “Before we left, she told me _every family needs a home_. I guess this is her way of telling us to put some roots down and start building something concrete.”

 _Family_. She and Ben are going to have a family now, for real, and this is going to be their home. It’s everything Rey never had as a child, everything she’d trained herself not to crave as a teenager. An ancient, almost-forgotten panic rises to her throat, _what are you doing this is so risky you’ve made yourself weak what if you lose it all what if they leave you what if you’re alone again_ –

She snuffs it out like a dying ember, a flame small enough to pinch between her fingers. Even if the voice never goes away, at least years of practice have made ignoring it an easy task. It probably helps that Ben has proven the voice wrong at every turn, that he’s always there whenever she feels the need to make sure he hasn’t left.

They make quick work of getting their bags and climbing up to the front door, where Ben insists that Rey be the one to open the doors to their new home for the first time.

“Should I carry you past the threshold now, or do you want to save that for the wedding?” he asks as Rey pulls the double doors wide open to reveal the familiar sight of Varykino. “Though if we’re going to have the wedding here, that wouldn’t make much sense. Okay, I’m doing it now,” Ben decides while Rey is still marveling at the sight of this home that belongs to _them_ now, and she barely hears the _thud_ of him setting their bags down before Ben sweeps her into an unexpected bridal carry that earns him a shocked yelp from Rey.

Ben steps into the house and then asks, “Now what?”

It’s so anticlimactic that Rey starts to laugh, shakes her head at him before she winds her arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss. “Now you put me down, and we see what’s for dinner.”

“Good idea, future Mrs. Solo,” Ben mumbles, leaning in for another kiss before he carefully sets her down.

“I’m full of good ideas, present Mr. Solo,” she replies, and tells Ben she’ll bring their bags up while he checks out the contents of their fridge to brainstorm possible meals.

He protests, of course, says he’ll take the bags up with her, but Rey’s stomach lets out a whine right then and she gives him a pointed look. “No time to waste. Get cooking, chef.”

Upstairs, with her bag slung over one shoulder and Ben’s in her other hand, Rey finds herself caught between the room they’ve claimed as theirs over the years and the master bedroom. She’s about to call down to Ben and ask him which one they’ll be staying in when a third door catches her eye, one she only vaguely remembers.

Rey sets the bags down between the two doors and heads for the third, twists the knob to find a nondescript guest room. It’s beautifully furnished – all the rooms in Varykino are – but it’s clearly just another guest room, set apart from the multitude of others solely by the curved French windows at the far end of the room.

The windows form a semi-circle – _a perfect little nook,_ Rey finds herself thinking – and offer a beautiful, calming view of the lake and the mountains beyond. They could get a rocking chair, maybe even arrange to have a little window-seat built in, and she and Ben could curl up with the baby here, spend hours soothing the child on sleepless nights while drawing peace from the view.

_Nursery._

The thought startles her, just the tiniest bit. She’s planned for all of the big things, of course – pregnancy and maternity leave, balancing childcare and her career, being there for every moment – big and small – despite their busy schedules, saving up for college and anything else their child might need. But Rey’s been so caught up in the bigger picture that she hasn’t actually had the time to think about something as simple and necessary as a nursery.

But sometimes the best things aren’t planned, are they? She looks around the room, sees a crib here and a changing station there and a softer color for the walls, maybe a cheery yellow or a soothing sage–

“Hey,” Ben pokes his head into the room, ventures in when he finds Rey standing by the windows. “I’ve been calling you for a bit, dinner’s almost ready.” He comes closer, takes a look around the room. “What’re you doing in here?”

At some point during her daydreaming, Rey’s hand had drifted to her stomach and stayed there, even when Ben walked in. She doesn’t feel the need to drop her hand and hide it behind her back as Ben approaches, doesn’t feel any fear or panic or even the slightest bit of nervousness.

“I was thinking,” Rey says quietly, observing Ben’s profile as he looks out the window, “maybe we could turn this into a nursery.”

Ben turns to her with a brilliant smile, and for a moment she thinks–

“That would be nice,” he tells her, pulls her close and nuzzles into her neck. “I’m sure Mom wouldn’t mind us remodeling. We could turn it into our very first home improvement project, work on it together during the weekends.”

The thing about having been together for six years is that you’ve most likely had every conversation there is to have, including the baby one. Her words don’t have the impact she was hoping for, not when she and Ben regularly talk about planning for children someday in the future.

So Rey centers herself with a deep breath, reaches for the hand curled low around her waist and pulls it to where her own had been resting over her stomach just seconds ago. “Or we could get to work on it right away, so that it’ll be ready in time.”

Realization dawns upon Ben gradually, a furrow in his brow that gives way to understanding in his eyes and lips parted in surprise. “You’re…” he breathes in wonder, trails off into silence as his eyes move downward.

Rey places her hand above his, waits until he looks back up at her before she simply whispers, “Yes.” Her voice is thick as tears spring to her eyes, and she knows her smile must be shaky as she stares at Ben and he stares back at her, the both of them content to bask in the moment.

Finally Ben moves, brings both hands up to cup her face with all the gentleness in the world. “Rey,” he murmurs, bends down to press his forehead to hers. “We’re having a baby.”

He pulls back so suddenly that her eyes fly open, just in time to see him reach for her waist and lift her off her feet. “Rey, we’re having a baby!” Ben exclaims, holds her up in the air and looks at her as if she’s some kind of miracle.

Her feet kick in the air like a little child’s as laughter bubbles past her lips, joy and relief and excitement coursing through her veins. Rey takes Ben’s face in her hands, pushes against his hold until he gets the idea and brings her closer, close enough for her to cling to him as they kiss and laugh and cry.

“When?” Ben asks when he finally sets her down, hands still around her waist. “And… how? I mean, you haven’t been sick, right? Remember last year when you got the stomach flu and I thought–”

“No, I haven’t been sick, Ben,” Rey assures him. “Apparently morning sickness usually starts around six weeks. I’m only five weeks along. And on our anniversary,” she answers his first question. “I went in for my annual check-up the day before, remember? I got the call from my doctor’s office just before we left for dinner.”

Ben – he doesn’t frown, can’t possibly stop smiling long enough to do that, but his eyes cloud over with the slightest hint of concern and that’s telling enough. “But that was five days ago. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Rey looks down for a moment, makes a conscious effort not to fidget with her hands. “I was being stupid,” she admits before looking Ben in the eye. “At first I was just shocked, and I didn’t know what to tell you. Then we talked about kids again and how we should probably wait another year or two, and that made me wonder if maybe you weren’t ready for this yet–”

“Sweetheart,” Ben chuckles, brushes a lock of hair out of her face. “I’m thirty-three years old. I’ve been ready for a while now.”

“Then why did you–”

“I thought _you_ weren’t ready,” he says. “You’re only twenty-six, and your career’s just starting to take off, I didn’t want to make you feel like you had to rush it or put your dreams on hold or anything.”

For the longest while she can’t think of anything to say, except – “I love you. You know that, right?”

“I know,” Ben smiles, kisses her forehead before he takes her hand. “Now come on, dinner’s almost done and I won’t have you and our baby going hungry.”

 _Our baby_.

It’s the first time either of them has said that out loud. Ben grins at her as he does, all soft and dopey with the slightest hint of disbelief just as she’d pictured it.

Rey loves the sound of it, loves the way he smiles, loves everything about this moment and this man and their life together.

 

* * *

 

In February, when all of the grey sludge has melted away to reveal a sparkling sheen of frost, thirty of their closest friends and family make the drive to Varykino for the weekend.

On the balcony where his grandparents were married, the one that hovers just below their child’s nursery, Rey and Ben bind their lives together and promise to never be alone again.

Amidst Luke’s joyous proclamation of their newly-wed status and the spirited cheers of their loved ones, Rey winds her arms around Ben’s neck and says the words he’s been waiting six years to hear:

“Hi, husband.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this is a day late, but I decided to take a mental health day and _not_ stay up until 4AM to write (which is what I did for the first two chapters, 11/10 would not recommend). I've also yet to get back to comments and messages from the last chapter, but I'll be doing that ASAP!
> 
> It's been such a treat to come back to this series and you guys, and I hope you've had even half as much fun reading this as I have writing it. I love that you guys love this, and I'd like to say a huge thank you for allowing me to run wild with all of my silly fluffy ideas and appreciating said silly ideas.
> 
> The series is done for now, but I _will_ admit that there's a very, very small possibility I might add a final one-shot to it sometime in the next few months. But really, that would just be an extra little peek at their lives. We're leaving Rey and Ben exactly where they should be, and we already know how things work out for them: a lifetime of happiness. I think that's a good place to stop, yeah?
> 
> As always, thank you all so much for reading and leaving such lovely messages. And if you'd like to squeal about these two with me one last time, I'll see you in the comments below!


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